Stories (2) Mistborn

I intend to write mostly about the better stories that I have experienced. Rarely do I reread any book, only very recently doing it. This book is not an exception, to either of these patterns.

Mistborn is high fantasy. We enjoyed the book and are likely to read the sequels. The characters are very well formed, such that we could regularly anticipate possible actions or speech from them, even though the plot kept us from knowing which of the possibilities would manifest, or when.

Not only did the people in this story have well developed character, so too did the whole world. While we did not get to see all of the world nor even the boundaries, what we did see was consistent with itself, with its surroundings, and with its history (its motivations). This is one of very few stories that attempts to regularize the system of magic that is central to the action of the story, and it works quite well.

Not only were the people in the story well formed, they had natures that we could relate to. Most of the action plays out as we expect it would in the real world, excepting for the effects of magic. The dance of suppressed peoples, with seething frustration and generations of conditioning, as they dabble in resistance and are seduced into committing to rebellion with all its accompanying costs, aligns well, but not too perfectly, with how real world histories played out.

Frustration grew in me, due to the ways that the people in the story refused to accept a small (in the scheme of things) distraction that would have significantly improved the likelihood of their longterm success. Yet, that focus on the short-term direct approach resulted in the telling of a crisp story.

The morals embedded in the story (as well as any other subtext) were sufficiently subtle to not leave us crying about a story highjacked. Indeed, there were messages about religious scams and corruption of government, just not with too fine a point.